Saturday, February 1, 2014

Few details revealed for the kickstarter and just some final thoughts.

I promised one more post before we released our kickstarter so here it is. I really want to thank everyone for taking the time to read my blog and appreciate everyone that has come out to support Super Arcade. So the time is here and even though my anxiety with be at a maximum level throughout every hour we run this crowd funded campaign, I am also greatly relieved to be able to finally make a decision and have a goal in life. Although financially it has been an extremely rough ride, that doesn't go without saying I didn't have a great experience and enjoyed many moments this place has brought me. There's so many things that happened here and if you weren't here in person to witness these events, its almost impossible to explain. From SBO qualifiers, the SFxT release event, Sega Cup, and even the Ultra SF4 location test, all these events provided something different and a great sense of reward when they were finished. Being open 24hours from Friday through Sunday was great and seeing people just grinding SF till 7am reminded of the hunger I used to have to be the best. Seeing people practice hard every week and enter tourneys with improving results brings a sense of joy and seeing their hard efforts pay off not only inspires me to keep playing, but just makes me happy in general to know that these people putting in the time produce results. I have seen people who literally never played competitive games become consistent top 8 finishers and I have also seen people who were total social rejects come here and make friends and all of a sudden become social butterflies. Yeah, I know the term is a little feminine, but hey, it's the only way I can explain it so excuse me. So just witnessing arcade culture at it's finest from an outside view gives me hope that arcades are a good thing and arcade life is beneficial to not only those seeking competition, but also for those who lack social and communication skills. And this is the reason I am putting in so much effort towards the kickstarter because I truly feel this is a place worth saving.

As stated previously, I have come up with many ideas that will completely transform this place from an 80's style arcade, into a very modernized one stop shop for the FGC and a hangout that people will come to and beg for more. I guess here's probably a good place to reveal most of the changes I have in store if we are successful in raising funds to accomplish our goals.

Appearance:

New flooring, new lighting, new color scheme, and let's just say I have something big in store that will make this place feel like you are walking into a rock concert from the moment you step in the building.

Upgrades:

New built in console stations, new stream station set up, more monitors for both tournament use and people wanting to come in and connect their laptop etc. Overhead PA system and sound system for ambient music or whatever I feel like playing :)

Revenue Generating Changes:

New display counter to sell items such as buttons, sticks, apparel so people won't have to shop online anymore and wait days to have stuff shipped. Upgrade in games and stocking more games that cannot be played at home. Ie drivers, shooters, etc. Adopting a membership system where you can pay a monthly fee instead of a venue fee per tourney. There will be a few options in this including one for fighters, one for the smash crowd, and one for complete VIP which will also offer discounts on all items sold here. We are also going to be making "Super Arcade" a brand and have shirts and other stuff available for purchase.

So that pretty much sums things up. We have the foot traffic here, we have a whole group of untapped customers we can reach at the college across the street, now we just need to have stuff here that they can spend money on. That has been the problem all along so I feel very confident that I can make this work. Once we get the kickstarter up and running you guys will hopefully see my vision coming to life and realize that these changes are very extreme and attractive to new customers. I would love to post some pictures but that would spoil our grand reveal and take away the hype so I'll leave you with a bit of curiousity. Lets just say having monitors hanging from the ceiling, LED lighting, and a concert theme for decor is all in store. Google the images for "truss lighting" and you will get a preview of the new theme.

All I can do now is keep my fingers crossed and hope you all have enough faith in me to get this project off the ground. If you like what you see and have enjoyed your time here or found any enjoyment from our streams or tourneys, please help out and spread the word and help me fight the good fight of keeping one of the last standing arcades alive. Thanks everyone and talk to you all again soon.

2 comments:

I am not 100% sold on why I should contribute to this kickstarter when it appears that you are in a sense buying new tires and detailing a car when the engine is shot.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable contributing if I knew what your break even point was and where you are in relation to that each month. I don't want to fund this only to see a post on SRK that Super Arcade is close to closing its doors next year.

If you could post some hard numbers from last year and breakdown what needs to happen to increase and maintain viability as well as how you can do that, you might find that individuals would be willing to contribute substantially more than the usual $1-20 on kickstarter.

I am all for Super Arcade sticking around and I hope you are able to keep it afloat and hopefully see a profit on it some day in the future for you and your family, but I also don't want to throw good money after bad.

super arcade in its current form breaks just about dead even if i dont take any pay. the current breakeven point is roughly 10,000 in operating costs including lease, electricity, isp, phone, and employee wages. i really wouldnt consider this buying new tires when my plans are definitely a whole new complete business. there is a ton of foot traffic here and even i have mentioned the term throwing good money after bad in regards to keeping super arcade open.

you might want to read some of the previous blog posts to get a better feel as i have explained a lot as to what goes on here. with the kickstarter there will be a breakdown as to where the money is directly going so please make your judgements once you see everything laid out in its entirety. this is another reason the kickstarter hasnt started yet, because i am still waiting on a couple estimates to be finalized so i can post and make everything public.